The Possibility of Somewhere - my next YA

My next book will be a YA contemporary romance. The Possibility of Somewhere will release in Fall 2016, from St Martin's Press.

The book is set in a small, fictional town in North Carolina, near the Atlantic coast. (This photo is from Emerald Isle, NC...my favorite beach. It shows up in many of my books.)

To borrow from the announcement that my agent put in a trade journal, The Possibility of Somewhere tells the story of a "trailer trash" girl and a boy from a wealthy immigrant family who are competing for a coveted academic scholarship. Along the way, they find themselves falling for each other. In the face of family and friends' disapproval, they're forced to choose how hard to fight to stay together.

I love this story and can't wait for it to release!

For the next few months, I'll have my hands on the keyboard all day long.  Wishing For You (I Wish #2) releases on 13 October. I'm nearly finished with the first draft of I Wish #3. And, naturally, I'll begin revisions soon on TPOS. (Plus, I have this YA supernatural/ historical about Nathan Hale that I'm co-authoring with a friend. Like I'm not busy enough :)

My supernatural/ magical realism books will be published under Elizabeth Langston. The YA romances will release under a pen name, Julia Day. But they're both me, and you'll be able to find out about both types of books on my one website.

YAY!

From Publisher's Marketplace:

Early release?

I've received several reports that the trade paperback version of Whisper Falls is already shipping.

The release date is still officially November 19, which is three weeks away. However, if you've ordered the book and it arrives before then, feel free to view that as an early gift.

Heading for NYC

Younger Daughter and I are headed to New York City.

We're going to Book Expo America (BEA), the largest book trade fair in the United States.   I plan to wander around, find out about great books, and pick up as many as I can carry.

But the main reason to go is that I'll be signing copies (i.e. uncorrected proofs¹) of my debut novel Whisper Falls.   I cannot wait to see and hold a copy of my book.

If you're going to be at BEA on Friday, drop by the Spencer Hill booth and get a book!

• Friday, May 31
  • Book-signing at Book Expo America (BEA)
    11:00 am, Booth 2567
    Jake Javits Center - New York City

¹ Uncorrected proof - an uncorrected proof is a bound copy of the book. It is just like a real book, except the possibility exists that it might have a typo or two. An uncorrected proof is not available for sale, but it is the book in its entirety. Generally, publishing professionals (such as book store owners, librarians, and book reviewers)receive uncorrected proofs or ARCs (advanced reading copy) so that they can review the book in advance of its publication date.

Jitters that did not come from coffee

To borrow a phrase from my agent, we are on submission.

Writers are in a golden age, I think. We are no longer limited to one channel for selling our work. Ten years ago, if we wrote a great book, we had to find a publishing house (PH) willing to take a risk on us.  The book had to be different enough to be fresh and unique, but similar enough for the PH to understand how to promote it and where to shelve it in bookstores. So, yeah—fresh, unique, and the same as everything else. Quite the trick.

Today, if no PH will buy our great book because it's too risky, authors have two choices: 1) try self-publishing or 2) hope the market changes so that we can try again later.  There are pros and cons to both.

I'm sticking with the second option for now. Its pros are more compelling for me than its cons. I like having professional help with editing, distributing, and promoting my books—and those qualities tend to be the strengths of publishing houses.

Several years ago, I wrote a book called I WISH. It finaled in an international writing contest known as the Golden Heart®. It caught the eye of my literary agent, who signed me because of I WISH.

We tried for months to sell IW.  We came really close a couple of times.  Even though the responses was positive, the answer was the same. This book is too different. Too risky. We don't know how to market it.

Fine. Whatever. I archived IW and started something new.  After that something new sold, I pulled I WISH out of archive and took another look.  The world had changed enough in the interim that I thought this book still held promise.

First, I have changed. I am a better author now. I've practiced hard, taken classes, and improved my skills at processing feedback. Secondly, technology has changed. The characters have new computers, devices, and information available to them. Thirdly, the market has changed. E-books have expanded the possibilities. Young Adult fiction, with its willingness to experiment with "formulas," has pushed the market along new and exciting terrain.

Given all of those changes, I took my much-loved I WISH apart and put it back together.  I worked hard. I hired a freelance editor and 2 teen beta readers. I listened to them and applied their suggestions. And together, we've made IW even better than before.

My agent has sent the book out there into the publishing world. It could be weeks or months before we know anything.  Until then, I wait for good news, with the jitters in full force.

The cover saga

Whisper Falls will be getting a new cover soon. There are a lot of reasons for the change.

First, we want the cover to appeal to readers ages twelve to one hundred.  That is quite a challenge. The old cover featured two models: boy and girl.  They will appear in the new cover as well. But we've changed the boy's clothes to blend better into the woods surrounding him.  Plus the new outfit is more "modest" (and I'm not saying anything else about that. :)

Secondly, the old cover had too much of a Photo-shopped feel to it. It will look more like a straight photograph now (which I really love.)

Lastly, we want to ensure that the cover appeals to a global market. Covers that work well in the US might not work as well overseas, but with a few tweaks, we can give our cover a more universal feel.

When I signed with Spencer Hill Press, I was told that I would get solid input into the cover design.  That sounded really great at the time. Since a publishing house owns the right to design whatever cover they want, the author rarely has a say. I have other author friends whose sales have been burned by bad covers.

But having a say can also be a case of be careful what you wish for.  Many people on the Whisper Falls team voiced opinions about this cover, such as editors, the cover designer, other authors, my agents, family, and friends.  Sometimes, the opinions aligned. Sometimes they didn't.  And always, people came back to me. "What do you like?"

You know what I like? I like words. I love the book and the characters. I think about whether readers will adore this story as much as I do.  I'm not a marketing person or a book-seller.  I don't know the business end of publishing.

That is why I'm so happy to be part of a talented team.  We can all be good and wise at the things we do best.   And I can go back to writing the next book... 

Be Not Afraid

Sunday was a spectacular day in many ways.

1. North Carolina had another gorgeous autumn day. (Have I ever mentioned how much I love my adopted state?)
2. It was Veterans Day. People told me thank you for my service to the nation (and I, in turn, thanked those who gave the far-greater sacrifice of service during wartime.)
3. I attended my first author's event.

I'm about to make a confession, and it's a statement that my introverted little soul never thought I would say: I loved my first author's event! Two hours flew past (at least for me.) After I gave a reading of the first chapter of Whisper Falls, the discussion started. And the questions flowed. We talked books, the craft of writing, historical research, the publishing business, social media...

I learned so much from this wonderful group of young women and their moms. (For the YA writers reading this post, get thee to a book club. You will get way more than you give.)  I asked the group if I could interview them, and they graciously consented. Read on and I promise that you too will benefit from their collective wisdom¹.

Q: What do you like least about the current YA fiction market?
A:

• There is too much sameness. Bookstores have entire sections of Paranormal Romance.  We're seeing too many Twilight knock-offs.
• The storylines just seem too young.  A lot of today's books are better suited to the middle grade age group than high school readers.

Q: What makes a YA book appealing to you? What would you wish to see more of?
A:

• When writing a character, allow him/her to be:
  • more real
  • both good and bad
  • multi-dimensional and flawed
• We want stories with:
  • more complex plots
  • higher quality, especially in execution
  • better writing in general (style, voice, sentence structure, literary devices, vocabulary, etc)

Q: How much slang is okay? How much cursing?
A:

• Only use slang in dialog.  Leave it out when we're inside the character's head.
• With cursing, it really doesn't matter.  It's fine either way.  But—if you do use curse words—don't let them be gratuitous. It has to flow naturally from the characters' personalities and the situations they find themselves in².
• FYI... we spell out everything in our texts now.  We might be a little easy on the capitalization, but everything else is usually correct.

Q: What topics can authors address in YA fiction?
A:

• Avoid anything too cliched. We've seen plenty of books on typical teen issues.
• Give us more about relationships.  Romantic relationships are still fine, but there are other kinds too. We have relationships with our parents, friends, siblings, grandparents, and teachers.  Explore those.
• It would be great to have more characters who struggle to find their purpose in life.  Why am I here? Where should I go next and how do I get there?  Write books about the process of self-discovery.

Q: What advice would you give to aspiring YA authors?
A:

• Don't try to follow a pattern too much. Don't copy what's already on the market.  If you do, you're missing the point. You have your own good qualities, your own voice, your own unique way of executing a story.  That's the book we want to read.
• Don't cater to the least common denominator. Don't dumb down the book. We like well-written stories. We like good sentence structure and vocabulary. We want complexity.
• Let the characters be real. Let them make mistakes and suffer the consequences.
• Don't be predictable. We don't want to see the plot twists a mile away.  But don't just insert yourself into the story and make things happen either. Surprise us in the right way.

Q: What makes you want to pick up a book in a bookstore?
A:

• The Cover [the girls said in unison]
• [laughter]
• [silence]

Q: Anything else besides the cover?

A: Back blurbs, although not everyone reads them.  Some readers don't want to have too big of a hint in advance.


Q: Tell me more about what you like in cover art.
A:

• It has to be cool.
• It needs a great font.
• We like photographs better than artwork, but it has to be good quality photography.

Q: What types of social media do you use most?
A:

• Twitter, for conversations
• Pinterest
• Tumblr, a little
• But Facebook? Not so much.  FB seems to be fading away.

Q: How do you find out about books?
A:

• Word of mouth is the best way.  We get recommendations from our friends and our moms.
• goodreads.com
• booklists from teachers³
• teenink.com
• magazines
• Once we like an author, we'll research more books by that author on amazon.com or the author's website.

Wow. Are you not blown away by their wisdom? I'm so glad I asked them for this interview.  The girls⁴, like their answers, were smart, profound, fun, and inspiring.  I enjoyed this visit so much that I'll just have to beg, borrow, and steal my way into other such opportunities.

America, you have nothing to fear. The next generation is amazing!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
¹ The answers to interview questions include actual quotes from the book club members. The teens answered more than the mothers, but Moms are represented in there too.
² The adults agreed with the teens on this issue, which is good since my characters (especially the hero) curse.  I think it is organic to his personality, though.
³ There was a Language Arts teacher at the book club meeting. She told me that her booklists tend to contain classics. She said that it's hard to find well-written books in the current market that she can recommend. That, YA authors, is a sobering statement. Just sayin...
⁴Thanks to Ellie, Claire, Laura, Melanie, and Michelle for inviting me!

The First Appearance

A mother/daughter book club has invited me to visit their next meeting.

My first reaction was yes! 

Then logic took over.  Whisper Falls doesn't release for another year.  The book club knows that--right?

Yes, they knew. And, yes, they want me anyway.

I'm so excited.  I love to talk about writing and the publishing process.  Commercial fiction is a tough business. Breaking-in can be crazy-difficult. Aspiring authors write for years, pouring their hearts-and-souls into their stories.  Yet there is no guarantee that they will sell.  In fact, less than one percent of manuscripts will ever be bought and published!

It gets worse. For the magic few who get one of those elusive publishing contracts, the money is usually mediocre. Only a handful of authors will earn enough to quit their day jobs.

We must be psycho. Really. It takes years of practice to write that first marketable book. A tiny percentage of us succeed in selling.  The lucky ones make very little money. And our success is entirely dependent on the good opinions of people we'll never meet.

Why do we do this again?  

I know why. The book club reminds me.  It's all about the readers.  Meeting them fuels my enthusiasm. I can't wait to infect others with my love for the characters in my stories.  I can't wait to hear what these teens like (and don't like) to read. And I'm aware that the next JK Rowling could be sitting in that room. What I say to the girls in the book club might inspire one of them to write the next Little Women or The King of Attolia.
 
Even though the meeting is in November, I'm getting prepared. My publisher has given me permission to read an excerpt from Whisper Falls.  There is swag to collect.  It's time to learn how to be better at my new job.

Writing the Jacket Copy

For most book buyers, there is a specific process we follow when deciding whether to buy a book.

• First, we look at the book cover--both the title and art
• If the cover interests us enough, we flip over to the back and read the jacket copy.  (For hardcovers, you find the jacket copy on the inside cover.) 

I helped to write the jacket copy for Whisper Falls.  I expected it to be hard, and I was right. There is so much to achieve in approximately one hundred words.

Obviously, we want to intrigue the reader enough that they want to read the story. We have to touch on the book's setting, identify the main characters, and hint at the struggle they are facing. But we can't reveal any plot twists.

I had a really hard time with that last part.  It took three tries for me to hint without revealing.  (Thanks to my cousin Llewellyn for helping with Try III. That version did the trick.)

Lastly, I read it out loud to ensure it flowed smoothly and then sent it off to Spencer Hill for their approval.

Here is the final version of the jacket copy for Whisper Falls.

While training for a mountain bike race, high-school senior Mark Lewis spots a mysterious girl dressed in odd clothing, standing behind a waterfall in the woods near his North Carolina home. When she comments on the strange machine that he rides, he suspects something isn't right. When Susanna claims to be an indentured servant from 1796, he wonders if she's crazy. Yet he feels compelled to find out more.

[The first paragraph gives the setting(s), background on the two main characters, and enough detail to identify the genre/subgenre of the book.]

Mark enters a 'long-distance' relationship with Susanna through the shimmering--and temperamental--barrier of Whisper Falls. Curious about her world, Mark combs through history to learn about the brutal life she's trapped in. But knowledge can be dangerous. Soon he must choose between the risk of changing history or dooming the girl he can't stop thinking about to a lifetime of misery.

[The second provides insight into the struggle in the story that the protagonist will be battling.  I hint at the problem without revealing any major plot points.]

I hadn't seen the cover art when I drafted the jacket copy, but I love how much they "match".

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow...

I can reveal the cover for my book on Friday. We'll also include the jacket copy.

I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I do!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's a Global Reading Community

When my agent sold Whisper Falls to Spencer Hill, she negotiated the contract to include World English rights¹ only.  I retained foreign rights, i.e. the ability to sell my book for translation into other languages.

Earlier this week, Agent K asked me to send her my favorite version of the manuscript.  She believes it's a good time to market my book overseas. So I pulled Whisper Falls out, dusted it off, tweaked a word here and a punctuation mark there---and sent that file winging its way across cyberspace.

As of this hour, Agent T (who specializes in selling books outside the US) has my manuscript.  The waiting begins!

¹World English rights: the right to print, sell, and distribute the book in English anywhere in the world. If readers buy (legally) a English version of the book in Canada/NZ/etc, Spencer Hill will be the publisher.

The Scary Stuff

An author's job is to write good books.  I've been working hard to acquire that skill for years.

But once published, there are many other tasks that an author must absorb. We must learn how to read contracts. We must learn to handle the finances and taxes of the self-employed. We must plan to attend conferences or workshops to improve our writing craft. And a huge part of the published author's job becomes the marketing of her books.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of books are published. Publishing houses cannot afford to market all of their titles.  Word-of-mouth is still one of the best ways to get readers interested in a book.  Authors accept the burden to encourage word-of-mouth when they accept a publishing contract.  We have to talk to people about our books and hope they'll love the books enough to talk about them in turn.

Trying to sell my books to readers was the part of this job that scared me the most.  By nature, I am an introvert. I enjoy being alone. Going to parties or giving speeches or selling products--I don't enjoy that.

The reality has been far different than what I expected.  I like talking to people about books.  I love discussing my characters and stories.  I enjoy sharing my experiences about the publishing industry.

Today, I attended an event for math tutors.  I talked with high school and middle school teachers--and mentioned my book.  Before I left, I'd handed out three business cards, offered to be a guest speaker at their schools, and had a wonderful time doing it.  I love the idea of visiting with students, answering their questions about this business, and getting them fired up about writing.

The part of the author job that I dreaded most turned out to be much more fun than I could have imagined.

First Glimpse

I had my first glimpse at the book cover for Whisper Falls tonight.  My senior editor sent a mockup of the cover art.  I have two things to say.

1. The mockup gives me chills. The cover art is going to be amazing. (Holy Moly. I have a photo concept for the cover of my book!)
2. The editor really wants my feedback.  That is a rare thing in the publishing industry.  Most authors get the cover with a 'there it is.'  If the author doesn't like it, tough.  SpencerHill not only cares about my opinion, they are actively seeking it.  I love this publishing house.

Well, okay, maybe I have four things to say.

3) I did show it to my husband, and he got chills too. My younger daughter didn't like it (which was predictable. She's 17. 'Nuff said.)

4) I would love to send it to everyone and I can't.  Not yet.

But soon.  I promise.

Continuing Ed

I will never be content with how well I write.

What I thought was good last year I know is not the best it can be this year.  So I spend a lot of time reading, talking, and practicing the writing craft.

I am about to devote 3 days to writing better.  I will attend the Romance¹ Writers of America National Conference in Anaheim, California.  There will be amazing workshops, great speakers, and networking with my current and growing support group of writers.

It ought to be great.


¹Romance: many readers do not know the industry definition of Romance. So here it is. A romance novel contains at least one romantic subplot and has a happy (or satisfying) ending. That's it to the definition. There are a lot of books out there that qualify as a romance.

Presenting.... The Author Photo

My official photos showed up a week ago in email.  There were 20 or so proofs.

I puzzled over them for several days.  Which did I like best? Which seemed most professional?  Which screamed somebody's Mom least loudly? Which would appeal to the widest spectrum of my target market?

Friends and family weighed in.  There were differences of opinion--but a few began to stand out as having the greatest appeal.  I also asked the photographer, Aimee Elaine, for her recommendations.

Without further ado, here it is...

Oh, how I love a small press - part 1

Writers are a strange bunch of people.

Even though we admit to hearing voices in our heads, we are not committed to institutions.  Indeed, we are paid good money¹ to talk to and about imaginary people as if they were real.

I am friends with many writers.  It helps to keep me sane.  We cheer each other, help each other, and commiserate with each other.

We also complain.  A lot.

For many published authors, publishers bear the brunt of the complaints.  Publishing houses don't give authors a large enough percentage of the book's list price. They want authors to revise books too much.  They don't consult authors enough about cover art.  They expect authors to do too much promotion.

That's why I love Spencer Hill Press (SHP).  They haven't done anything for me to complain about.  At least, not so far :)

The day after I accepted their book offer, SHP's senior editor called me and asked what I wanted for cover art.  Yes, she did.  Tuesday, the cover designer/photographer (Coe) called me to discuss my thoughts about the cover, what the main characters looked like, and what clothes I envisioned them (the models!) wearing.  Coe knows many Revolutionary War re-enactors, so she doesn't anticipate any problems with finding a costume for my heroine.

We then spent time discussing the two protagonists' interactions with each other over the course of the book--to make sure the cover captures the essence of their relationship. (Sigh!)   Coe is going to generate some sketches of her ideas and send them to me.

I can't wait to see what she does.

Today, I received email from the PR specialist.  The book won't release for another sixteen months, and we are already talking about promotion opportunities.

I love this job.  So far :)



¹ Contrary to public belief, the vast majority of writers cannot quit their day jobs.  We talk about royalties in terms of figures: four-figures ($0-$9999), five figures ($10k -< $100k), etc. It is rare for authors to get 6- or 7- figure sales for their books.  Trust me, the reading public has heard about every one of the 7-figure authors (all five of them :).

The first edits

Yay.  I received my first edits last night.  It's so exciting.

My editor marked up chapters 1 - 11.  I'll have to rewrite a few scenes and re-research a few facts to ensure their accuracy. It is a little strange to go back through the manuscript, seeing it through someone else's eyes.  I had already experienced this once with my freelancer.  It's cool and fun and a little scary.

I have other author friends who've been through this before, where they closet themselves with their revisions and disappear from loops.  It sounds a bit intimidating to be under deadline with all that rewriting to do. And maybe, at some point, it will stress me out too.  But, for the moment, I just want to luxuriate in the feeling of rolling up my sleeves and making the manuscript better with my new partner Rich.

I will, however, suggest that he not send them at 10:30 pm any more.  I can't resist reading the edits and pondering them---all night long.

A New Friend

My book editor called me today.  We talked for an hour about revising Whisper Falls.  He has lots of suggestions, most of which I love.  The rest are negotiable.

As my blog title says, I'm calling him a new friend.  Do other authors use the same label?  Do they think of their editors as friends?  Is it purely a business relationship?  Or somewhere in-between?

It may be too early to tell for us.  But I do like his ideas, his enthusiasm, and how much he loves my book.  I suspect we'll make a great team.

Is it official yet?

I'm listed as an author on the publisher's website and on my agent's website.  It feels official now.

The book cover is the next major milestone.  Once we have it, I can plaster it everywhere.  On my website. On my facebook page.  I can make bookmarks and hand them out.

But, for today, it is enough to join the ranks of other authors.

What Takes So Long?

My book will be available in November 2013.  I’ll have to wait seventeen months to see my book in print. Why, exactly, is the release date so far away?

As it turns out, there are a lot of steps to publishing a book.

The first consideration is getting the word out to bookbuyers at retail stores and libraries. Bookbuyers have to know about my book to order it.  They’ll most likely learn about my book at book fairs or through catalogs. If my name were Nora Roberts or John Grisham, I wouldn't have to worry so much about this step. As a new author, I must list Whisper Falls in the wholesale catalogs six or more months before its release date.

The next consideration is the editing process.

My editor and I will iterate through four or five drafts before the book will be the best it can be.  For a debut author, each of those drafts could take four weeks—so, another five months.

Now, we’re up to a year. That means, in theory, my book could be ready next summer.  So why don’t we release it then?

The main reason is that my publisher only releases a few books each month—and they have already filled their quota until next September.  So there is no room for Whisper Falls in the summer release schedule.

We chose to hold my book until a November release for a couple of reasons.  1) Early fall is a hectic time for teens, my target market. I don't want them too distracted to overlook my book. 2) November is a good time to buy Christmas gifts.

Seventeen months still seems far away, but at least there is a rationale for the wait.

Five Easy Pieces

Okay, the title of this posting is a lie.  The first five items on our To-Do List are not easy.

I. Jacket Copy

Jacket copy is that paragraph or two we put on the back cover of the book to pique a potential reader’s interest.  Jacket copy is also called the back blurb.

It’s tricky to write.  We want it to be intriguing enough that the shopper will buy the book.  But we can’t include spoilers or anything that could be potentially misleading. And we have to be careful with the tone of the blurb.  We don’t want a humorous romance to sound gritty or a thriller to come across perky.
 
Fortunately for me, when my agent was pitching my book to publishers, she wrote something I could convert to a back blurb.  I’ve passed along a revised version of her pitch to my editor. So maybe I did get off easy on this one.

II. Author Photo

My buddy Liza is an excellent photographer.  Five years ago, she took a headshot of me wearing a blue shirt.  It is one of the best Beth photos in existence.  I use it everywhere. On facebook, on my website, on this blog.

But, good as it is, I’m still expected to have a professional shoot.  So I’m in the process of working that out.  In the meantime, Liza’s shot wins.

III. ISBN

ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number.  It’s the 10-digit or 13-digit number you usually see on the back cover near the barcode.

I’ll be getting one soon. Yay!  That makes me feel so official.

It is also SpencerHill’s responsibility to acquire the ISBN.  So this is another item that’s easy for me.

IV. Cover Art

Contrary to what the reading public might believe, authors do not control their book covers.  Nope. Nada. Nein.

At best, authors have influence.  Our influence increases with the number of books we've sold.  For a debut author, that number is zero; hence, our influence is zero.

Happily, when my senior editor asked my opinion and shared her vision, we discovered our ideas were compatible. We’ve discussed paintings vs photography, hiring models, images that are full-body vs torsos, and various color schemes.

This is so much fun!  More on the cover art in a later post. 

V. Author Biography

Writing one’s own bio is awful. Pffft.

I want to present facts that readers will care about, only how do I know what those are?  My target readers are teens, but that is hardly a homogeneous market.  And readers who have already passed their 20th birthday will (hopefully) enjoy the book too.  What facts might they care about?

Ultimately, I had to get this done.  So I limited the content to my family, NC, the geek factor, a couple of my cheesy quirks, and the book.

How strange that the item I know the most about was the one that gave me the most trouble.